Apparatus for making aldehydes and separating the same from the other products formed



A. A. BACKHAUS AND F. B. ARENTZ. I .PPARATUS FOR MAKING AEDEHYDEfiAND SEPARATlNG THE SAME FROM THE QTHER PRODUCTS FORM-ED.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24, 191B.

PatentedAug. 22, 1922.

ounce SITATES- PATENT omen;

ARTHUR- A. BACKHAUS, or BALTIMORE, AND FRED 3. ARENTZ,'OF' cunrrs BAY, MARYLAND, ASSIGNORS TO U. s. INDUSTRIAL nnconon 00., n oonrom'rron OF WEST VIRGINIA.

.nrrnnerus non. MAKING ALDEHYDES AND SEPARATING THE SAJllIE FROM THE OTHER PRODUCTS FORMED.

Specification of Iietters Patent. Patented Aug. 22, 1922- Application filed June 24, 1918. Serial No. 241,651.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that W8,ARTHUR A. BACK- HAUS, of Baltimore, in the .State of Mary land, and FRED B. ARENTZ, of Curtis Bay, in the county of Anne Arundehand in the State of Maryland, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Apparatus for making Aldeh .des and Separating the same from the ther ProductsFormed, and do hereby declare that the following isf a full, clear, and exact description there- 0 Our invention relates particularly to an I apparatus for producing aldehydes, but it has reference particularly to apparatus for the production of acetaldehyde.

The object of our invention is to providean apparatus by means'of which aldehydes,

and particularly acetaldehyde, may -be readily formed from the corresponding alcohol.

A further object is the operation of said apparatus by means of a catalyzer.

The object of our invention is especially to provide an apparatusto recover the aldehyde and separate it from the other prodnets of the process in an advantageous manner.

Further objects of our invention will appear from the detailed description thereof contained hereinafter.

While our invention is. capable of embodifnent in many different forms, for the purpose of illustration we shall describe only one form of apparatus made in accordance with our invention in the accompanying drawings, in which The figure is a diagrammatic representa-' tion, partly in. section, of an apparatus which may be used in carrying out our invention. Y

In the drawing,.we have shown an alcohol still 1, adapted to beheated by means of a steam jacket 2, having a vapor outletpipe 3, which passes through a preheater/l,

adapted to be heated in any suitableway,

'as for example by an oil jacket 4;, having inlet and outlet pipes 49 and l. The tube 3 is connected to a catalyzer 5, which is com prised of a copper tube'6, carrying a quantity of granular porous material 6, such for example as pumice stone, unglazed porcelain, charcoah or terra cotta, carrying is caused to flow in the opposite direction from an inlet pipe 19locatedfat the top throughout the same particles of a finely divided catalyzer metal such for example as copper, nickel, chromium or iron, which Serial Number, 240221, filed June 15, 1918,

by Arthur A. Backhaus.

Said catalyzer 5 1s prov1ded,.with any suitable heating means, but may,'for'.ex

ample, be provided for this purpose with a heating jacket, 7, having inlet and outlet pipes 8 and 9, respectively, for supplying a current ofhighly heated oil thereto. A tube 10 leads from the upper portionof the catalyzer 5 to' a condenser 11, which is provided with the usual inlet and outlet pipes for cooling water 12 and 3, and which is adapted to condense the a cohol from' the vapors which pass out of the catalyzer 5. The condensed alcohol is caught in a cylindrical receiver 14 and may be drawn off by valved pipe 15, while the uncondensed gases, comprisin acetaldehyde and hydrogen, pass out y a pipe 16, which may, ifdesired, contain a compressor 16, and thence to a scrubbing tower or column 17. The vapors in the tower 17 pass through a series of liquid sealed pans 18, constructed in the same manner in which scrubbing towers or columns are ordinarily made, in which pans a current of absorbing liquid of the tower. The absorbing liquid may be water or alcohol, but said liquid is preferably comprised of acetic acid, the most preferred' form of which for this purpose is glacial acetic acid, in which the aldehyde formed is very soluble. In this way an acetic acid containing 50% ofacetaldehyde -may be obtained and will flow out of the tower 17 by means of an outlet pipe 20, and thence into a receiver 21, from which it may be drawn off by an outlet pipe 22. The hydrogen passes out of the tower 17 by means of a pipe 23, and may be collected in any suitable manner. v

In the operation of our apparatus, a quantity of an alcohol, such for example as applied by the steam jacket 2. The alcohol vapors are conveyed away by the pipe 3 to aegan ethyl alcohol, is introduced into the still 1, and is distilled therein by means of the heat the preheater 4, where the vapors are heated to a temperature of between 250 and 350 (3., but preferably of approximately 300 C1,

' about 300 (1, throughout the entire length of said tube, and a large percentage of the alcohol vapors is thus decomposed to form acetaldehyde and hydrogen.

The vapors passing out of the catalyzer by means of the tube 10 are conducted through the condenser 11, maintained at a temperature of 20-30 (3., Where any alcohol vapors present are condensed, and are collected in the receiver 14, from which the alcohol may be drawn off. by means of the pipe 15. The acetaldehyde and the hydrogen pass out of the receiver l t, and are conducted to-the scrubbing tower or column 17, where the ascending vapors of acetaldehyde and hydrogen are subjected to a counter current of an absorbing liquid, such as water, alcohol or acetic acid, preferably glacial acetic acid, by passing through the series ofliquid sealed pans 18 therein, until substantially all of the acetaldehyde has become absorbedin the acetic acid and forms a solution, which passes out-of the tower; 17 by'means of the pipe 20, and which do prises approximately one part of glacial acetic acid and one part of acetaldehyde.

The hydrogen passes away from the top of the lower 17 by means of the pipe 23, from which the hydrogen may be collected inany suitable manner.

In the operation of this apparatus it is preferable to use acetic acid as the absorbing medium, particularly when the acetaldehyde recovered is to be changed into acetic acid,

as for example by the action of a current of air under pressure of -75 lbs. and at an elevated temperature of 4C565 G.

l/Vhile we have described our invention above in detail, we wish it to be understood that many changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of our invention.

We claim:

1. In combination, a catalyzer, means for passing alcohol vapors through the same. to form an aldehyde and hydrogen an alcohol condenser, and means for separating the resultant aldehyde and hydrogen comprising a scrubbing column for bringing acetic acid in contact therewith adapted to conduct the liquid and vapors into contact with each we have hereunto set our hands ARTHUR A. BACKHAUS. FRED 1B. ARENTZ.

Witnesses: I

JOHN P. GISOHEL, ARTHUR WRIGHT. 

